But I am pretty sure that the frequency of updates here will be down a bit for the next month or so (in fact, it already is, since this is my first update for a few days). I’m not going on hiatus or anything drastic like that, just trying to do a bit less recreational computing and spend more time in real life, but if you’re looking for a daily dose of wit and wisdom, you should probably widen your search to include some of the ‘blogs listed over on the left.

Recreational Computing

Jeffrey’s a big Star Trek fan, and is eagerly awaiting the premiere of Enterprise (and, I have to admit, I am too). So when I saw the link from Brent to pictures from the new series, I had to follow it. And then I found a clip of an interview which I knew Jeffrey would want to see, so I tried it on my laptop.

But after downloading 7.5MB, all I got was audio. So I thought I’d try it on Jeffrey’s machine. But all he got was audio, too. So I upgraded his copy of Windows Media Player. And then we got audio. So I upgraded Internet Explorer and applied all sorts of other updates from Microsoft’s site. And we still just get audio.

Maybe a Mac would be easier.

Debugging

Last night, when we got home from services, we discovered we’d been in a bit too much of a hurry to get there. We’d missed a small piece of salmon that had dropped to the floor — but in the couple of hours we’d been gone, some ants had found it. And they’d told their friends.

So there was a huge clump of ants enjoying the salmon, and busy trails of ants across the kitchen, through the family room, and on outside. We attacked with damp paper towels, vacuum cleaners, and other tools, and even sprayed the apparent point of entry (outside). Then everyone took a shower to get rid of any bugs which had climbed aboard, even Jeffrey, who far prefers baths.

It was a rather late night for all of us — but this morning, there weren’t any ants around, so I guess it was a success.

I’m in Cambridge, Massachusetts, this week, mostly tending to W3C business. Updates will be infrequent.

I flew in yesterday — an uneventful flight, with an empty seat next to me, a decent movie, though one I’d seen before (Spy Kids), and an upgrade to First Class and, therefore, warm nuts to munch on before lunch.

It was 10pm when I got to the hotel, too late to find much of anything to eat here (unless I wanted pizza), and the area around the hotel had given up for the night, too. So I walked over the bridge to Boston and found a random pizza place, picked up some garlic bread, and walked back. It was a most pleasant way to unwind, with the temperature just around 70 and reasonable humidity.

Despite the nice walk, I didn’t sleep too well, so morning came early. The weather was still good, and my meeting didn’t start until 10, so I got dressed and went out for a little run. I didn’t make the mistake I made last July — instead, I turned right after crossing the bridge and ran towards Fenway Park for a few minutes, so I was able to turn back when I was ready instead of feeling obligated to complete a whole loop.

I spent the rest of the day at W3C (where I’ll be again tomorrow). Our meetings broke up about 3:30, so I came back to the hotel to take advantage of the high-speed connectivity and quiet and handled the day’s mail. Then it was time to join the W3C Advisory Board for a pre-meeting dinner at Chez Henri in Cambridge. I was originally going to take the T to Porter Square and walk a half-mile back to the restaurant, but the weather seemed threatening — I could see occasional flashes of lightning in the distance — so I decided to walk the three blocks back to MIT LCS and get a ride to the restaurant. There was occasional drizzle on my way over, and just as I got to the building, there was a bright flash of nearby lightning, followed two seconds later (I counted) by a loud thunderclap.

By the time we were ready to leave, we were in the midst of a full-scale thunderstorm — I only had to walk 50 feet to the car, but I was drenched by the time I got in! But by the time we reached the restaurant, the rain had stopped, and now the sky is mostly clear again. Definitely not California weather!

Chez Henri is mostly a seafood restaurant, heavy on the shellfish, which would not be good for me; fortunately, they do offer alternatives, and I quite enjoyed the vegetarian pasta with fava beans and mushrooms that I had. The sorbet for dessert was even better, though.

And now I’m back in the hotel, preparing for yet another day of fun, sun, and excitement. Oh, and meetings.